Universal Basic Income: What it Means, How it Works, & Why it Will Transform Our World
Over the past few months, Universal Basic Income(UBI) has gotten a lot of attention. As the 1% get richer, the middle class shrinks, employment becomes less stable, and extreme poverty rises; we need to rethink the system. According to the National Poverty Center, approximately 1.6M households in the US are living in extreme poverty, which includes 3.5M children.(1)
Over the last century, centralized forms of authority have proven again and again that they do not work in favor of the people. Take the recent Tax Cut, which slashed the federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. The millions and billions saved by corporations will be doled out to the Exec’s and Top Shareholders, not the workers. Yes, middle class workers will get a little bit of a cut, but nothing near what the rich are getting.
Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri states that “It’s a debt-inducing, make-rich-people-richer tax bill that in the long run is not going to be helpful to the vast majority of people in my state that are sitting around the kitchen table trying to figure out how [to] come out even at the end of the month.” (2) - January 9, 2018
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What UBI Really Means
Basic income is simply a cash transfer guaranteed to all individuals with no conditions or strings attached. There are no restrictions on how it can be spent, work requirements, or fitness tests attached to the transfer. According to the Y Combinator UBI Research taking place in Oakland, California a basic income should be roughly equal to about $12,000/individual a year. There are other UBI experiments taking place in Canada, Finland, Kenya, and India.
How it Works
The most common argument against basic income is that it’s unaffordable. However, it is important to note that the Federal Governments spends about $670B per year on Welfare programs. According to reports from the CATO Institute, a family of three can receive assistance from various programs, such as Food Stamps, valued at $28,000 a year.(3)
The United States is very wealthy compared to other countries, and makes up about a quarter of the World’s GDP, estimated at 74 Trillion.(4) This puts GDP into perspective at a global level. It makes sense that the other big world players, like China, Canada, and India need the US’s economy and global GDP to prosper.
So we have the money, it's just a matter of cutting through red tape, the Media (in which 6 major companies own 90% of the media), and greedy individuals.
UBI money is not taxed and allows the free market to remain intact.
In the Y Combinator UBI Research, half the participants are given a basic income of $1,000 a month for three to five years. Now, that’s not a whole lot of money, but to people living in extreme poverty, that’s serious cash flow.
Why it Will Transform Our World
Small business and entrepreneurial endeavors are the solution. Some statistics to put small business into perspective:
1. 64% of small business owners start with $10,000 or less and are primarily self-funded.(5)
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What if we could empower the people living in poverty to create their own small business? With technology as our catalyst, we need to start thinking BIG, at both a micro and macro level. Think Global, Act Local!
2. 50% of small businesses will survive 5 years or more. Approximately one-third will survive 10 years or more. (6)
Those are pretty good statistics if you ask me, compared to a corporate minimum wage job that restricts your creativity, imagination, and passions.3. As of 2012, there were 8 million minority-owned businesses in the United States. First and second generation immigrants are more entrepreneurial and..
As we make strides in automation and AI, we need to rethink society’s ideologies towards work and purpose. We need to stop measuring our success on our levels of productivity. Yes, some participants will waste the money, but the vast majority of them would spend the money wisely.
Instead of solely focusing on getting enough resources to survive on, people can focus on spending more time doing things they want to pursue - whether that’s a job they enjoy/matches their skillset, starting their own venture, going back to school, or spending more time doing leisurely and fulfilling tasks.
Thanks for reading!
Here's a video with more detail:
AI will have a huge impact on Humanity there is no doubt about that. In theory producing a being/conciousness that is above humans in intelligence and life span could either greatly help or hurt our species. I personally don't think basic income will happen (just opinion on the powers that be) One thing I think of is that if AI is to the point where it can sustain the needs of humans will it do it? Will it be efficient in its eyes? Another thing that I question on Basic income is what is the incentive to accumulate wealth and equity if the basic needs are fulfilled?
Most people start businesses so that they don't have to work for someone else, to make more money, or to have more free time/ live the life they want. If basic income fulfills these needs what will be the driver for the masses to produce and innovate? Not saying you wont have people with the "Elon Musk" mindset but that is def not the average person.
And another thought of mine is the economic function of this? Inflation? How will the funds be distributed? Taxed? Even with blockchain this would be a huge undertaking
While this look a good idea unfortunately human nature is not to give any thing away to pay for it
Thanks for your comment. I wrote a bit about what a Superintelligent AI scenario may look like here. The incentive to accumulate wealth will be up to the individual. If people are given a little bit of a safety net, in terms of money, research shows that people are smart enough to invest it. Investing it by bringing their creative ideas to life with the help of AI, VR, and other emerging applications.
You don't have to be an Elon Musk to bring something of creative, or intellectual value to society. When people spend more time doing the things they cherish, they take more risks and make better decisions about their well-being, it's self preservation. We are born creative, society and the education system drills it out of us.
toddoto check out my blog post my friend is behind the world bond listen to his story.. basic income is tied to world bond.
I agree with everything you've written above, but...
...BUT.... The problem I see is with the "No strings attached". I have been researching this topic for 3 years and my conclusion is that unless massive change happens in the political structure of the world, when UBI rolls out, there WILL be strings attached. And these strings can/may/will be massive infringements on the Rights of the people. I hope I'm wrong, I really do....
.... but I dont' think I am.
d
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The "smart" orange baboon that gave the State of the Union Speech the other night gives me hope that our political structures can, and should be, radically changed. It's time to actually drain the Swamp..
If UBI is ever rolled out, it needs to be based in decentralization - which is where Blockchain comes in. The time has come and passed where we need centralized forms of Authority, like The Fed, controlling the rigged game.
The time is now, the question is whether people are willing to put in the effort to make that change happen. We can only use technology as a catalyst for change so long.
Thanks for your comment!
One or two years ago we had a public vote here in Switzerland about if a comitee should think about how the UBI could be funded and how it could work in practice. The vote wasn‘t about if we want to implement it or not. People got scared about „lots of people won‘t work anymore“ and „this will hurt the economy“ so quite a big mayority voted no. Pretty sad in my opinion.
Also like two or three years back we had a public vote about a minimum wage. Also here people voted no, because they got scared that there might be buisnesses what would need to close and therefore people could loose their job. When I remember correctly there were some studies that showed that not even 1% of swiss people would have profited of the minimum wage.
You see: we are one of the richest countries and we could easily aford to pay a little more for people at the bottom. I mean, we are spending 5billion per year on an army we never use. But we don‘t because we get scared easily and the human learned of the centuries to gather and not to give away his hard earned money.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I wish more people were open to the idea, or at least discussing it. If Switzerland's population is worried, I can't imagine what the average American would say.. lol.
Much like Stockholm syndrome, people fear the unknown. The question becomes how long does it take for people to understand most of the system(s) in place only benefit the top 1-5%. I am hopeful decentralized platforms, like this one Steemit, will help the people take back forms the centralized forms of authority.
Yes humans are afraid of change. Why risk what you have now?
Well you have to see that Switzerland is always slow with change. In some areas women were not allowed to vote until 1990. o.O
I also think decentralized platforms are a good step but even here we have huge inequalities. If I invest 1’000‘00USD in steem power my vote is so much more worth then the mayorities and so I can influence the platform in a big way.
UBI seems to me like another tool for bringing about a New World Order and centralizing power and authority for the global elite. UBI is completely contradictory to decentralizing forms of authority so I'm not sure why you'd be in favor of it.
It's by no means perfect. But it could be used as a tool to help each other, help ourselves. If doled out in a non-threatening or controlling way - using AI and blockchain technologies to help work out the authority kinks.
I think we need to scale back our military and reduce government and the inflation tax. The USA "poor" are pretty rich but that may change someday as the USA gets poorer and poorer. If it wasn't for the rich the poor would have to work or die.
Cutting military budgets to free up funds for far better projects like UBI is a genius idea. However if a country cuts its military spending by 80% for example, to make a real UBI possible, then that country would most likely be invaded by some malicious group of people... or so is the story the governments would like us to believe. To a certain degree military is needed in some countries. but We the People must really evolve our emotional intelligence. Greed and cruelty must become an extinct part of our nature as the human race. Slowly we get there... or so i like to believe
If we cut our military budget by 80% we could still destroy the entire world. I support a strong military to defend our borders. Our borders are not in Europe, Korea, Israel etc. I don't see the need for a UBI. I think we should just start scaling back our failed welfare programs.
UBI is for everyone, UBI is the next level of "wellfare". A UBI is a new idea and has never been possible before, but it is becoming more and more possible. Why should the government get money to push war ect. when a military budget cut could literally set the entire USA finnancially free. if every single poor person suddenly become financially able to do basic things financially i really believe america would be a better place. Sure some people would still do drugs and still do alcohol... but i do believe the benifits are better than what the military provide. Humans need a massive mental shift in my humble opinion. but i dont mean to upset anyone, i hope the conversation is going well. Im a European living in South Africa in case that mattered in this conversation :)
You can give your money away now. I'd probably pick falling bitcoin over a inflationary UBI currency.
Absolutely. The military-industrial complex has profited for far too long. The amount of tax money "invested" into military R&D is disgusting. But it's fine... we'll just keep cutting taxes in order to "create more jobs." We are simply kicking the can down the road.
I don't think socialism ever works out that great in the end whether it's military ssi ponzi schemes, welfare or UBI. We need to scale it back and move towards a free market economy before it is too late. In other words we are screwed. :(
You are correct about the US getting poorer and poorer....The UN has really started to ramp up Agenda 2030 and a mandate for that agenda is to redistribute wealth from the richer countries to the poorer.
I love the idea of a UBI. Your post was top quality and i liked the video a lot. I think even though we are worlds apart we have similar ways of thinking. So without posting for to long, follow me if you think its worth connecting. i also look to post these kinds of stories and vids and will upvote and support your articles if you keep up the good work and help me out as well brother. maybe we can start something with more people who think like us
Thanks man, I'm always down to collaborate. Steemit provides a great opportunity to share differing ideas without the bias or judgment of traditional social media
very true. Steemit feels more like people trying to have a good time online with strangers, and making money i guess. whereas facebook ect. is filled with all the people that surround you in real life so it does feel intrusive and judgmental its true. never thought of it that way